


Always Here

by MadMenagerie



Series: Shots of SoMa (A collection of one-shots) [7]
Category: Soul Eater
Genre: Angst, Character Death, F/M, Hurt, Tragedy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-09-09
Updated: 2013-09-09
Packaged: 2017-12-26 03:17:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,286
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/960953
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MadMenagerie/pseuds/MadMenagerie
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Maka coughed weakly and lifted her heavy eyelids to see the blurry images around her. She felt worse today and it concerned her in the back of her clouded mind. She swallowed the dryness in her throat and struggled to sit up, not noticing the familiar warm hands until they wrapped around her to help her. That’s right, Soul was here; was always here, beside her. She looked up at his slowly clearing form as the fog began to lift from her eyes and smiled at him in appreciation. She watched him attempt to smile back but it turned into more of a grimace, nothing changing in his eyes.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Part One

**Author's Note:**

  * For [albinoscythe](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=albinoscythe).



> This is a really short drabble but it will have a companion piece in Soul's pov. I wrote this for a prompt given to me by albinoscythe on tumblr, "last words from your muse to mine". And this is what happened. I may lengthen this into a full blown story if I get enough comments for that. Maybe.

Maka coughed weakly and lifted her heavy eyelids to see the blurry images around her. She felt worse today and it concerned her in the back of her clouded mind. She swallowed the dryness in her throat and struggled to sit up, not noticing the familiar warm hands until they wrapped around her to help her. That’s right, Soul was here; was always here, beside her. She looked up at his slowly clearing form as the fog began to lift from her eyes and smiled at him in appreciation. She watched him attempt to smile back but it turned into more of a grimace, nothing changing in his eyes.

She felt terrible, when she had the strength to think about it, that she was such a burden on him. She couldn’t even begin to figure out how long she had been sick, it was all just one huge day to her, never-ending; and he was ever the loyal partner. She knew it wasn’t fair for him, but what could she do? She couldn’t stop him, couldn’t make him see reason. She had tried in the beginning, but now her words had faded into short sentences and cracking one worded questions, unable to string them together through her exhaustion and pain. Still, in the recesses of her mind it killed her, seeing him sit patiently by her side, only moving to help her when she struggled.

The need for words between them had long since passed and now on the fleeting moments she was awake they sat in heavy silence. But today would be different, she could feel it. That brief moment of realization when she awoke came to the forefront of her mind and she knew.

"Soul…" Her underused voice grated softly against the air between them. He turned his attention away from the window and towards her, eyes creasing in question. She pushed a small smile to him again and her fingers twitched toward him as much as she could muster, which he gently took. Before he could ask her what she needed she forced herself to speak again.

"Thank you; for always being here." Her statement startled him, she could see it on his face, feel it in the soft tightening of his hand around hers. She wanted to say so much more but her vision was fading and her lips only barely carried the next words. _I’ll always love you._ She wasn’t sure if she had actually said them or if her mouth had only moved in silence but it was all she could do before her hand relaxed limply and she drifted into the darkness.


	2. Part Two

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this is the companion piece to the drabble I wrote for albinoscythe in the previous chapter.

Soul stared into the abyss of his mind as he sat in his usual chair beside the bed that held his sleeping meister, but the weak raspy coughing stirred him from his empty musings and he looked down to see her thin frame struggling to sit up. He reached over her, wrapping his arms around her to help her noticing she looked startled for a second before looking up at him and offering a hint of a smile.  His heart broke for what seemed like the hundredth time since this started and he forced his lips to return her efforts, not quite making it and instead his mouth pursed into an awkward grimace to keep his eyes dry.

The guilt that had glistened, unspoken, in her faded eyes tore through his soul and he kicked himself mentally for causing it again. All that mattered was the way she felt, not him. He should have tried harder to smile for her, to show her she wasn’t the burden she thought she was. He had tried to convince her of that since the beginning but his stubborn little meister wouldn’t understand. He wasn’t by her side every day out of duty or obligation. His loyalty didn’t stem from his status as her weapon; far from it. He owed her this, at the very least, and wanted it at most. He wanted to show her that he loved her, no matter how sick she became. He wanted to prove he’d never leave her no matter the circumstance. But he feared all he accomplished was her feeling like a job to him, like she was a weight he had to carry before he could go along his way with a new meister and become the powerful deathscythe they had plans of making him.

He certainly hadn’t helped that image with his lack of conversation. Sure, they had talked and laughed and cried at first; but as time wore on and she slept more and more, his words dried up and he couldn’t force them back out. Now it seemed routine, she would wake, he would help her, hand her things she wanted or needed, tried to get her to drink or eat, and she would sleep again. Each time those emeralds peeked through her tired lids he wanted to speak; he truly did, but by now his throat felt desiccated and cracked.

He mulled over these things gathering in his chest as he stared out of the window until her soft whisper of his name interrupted the silence in the room. He turned immediately, his eyes full of fearful questions. Something in her eyes unsettled him greatly and he looked down to take a shaky breath before asking her what she needed. He noticed the slight reaching movements of her fingers and he picked up her ice cold hand, squeezing slightly to warm it in his. He worried momentarily that she wasn’t warm enough and told himself to get her another blanket when he could. Before he could voice his question and concern she spoke again.

_Thank you, for always being here._

Her quiet words made the loudest shatter of his heart and he stared into her eyes in physical shock. He barely registered gripping her hand as tightly as he felt comfortable with. And he tried to clear the dust from his throat to speak back to her; to tell her she never has to thank him for that, to tell her he… But her eyes fluttered and she gasped slightly, still moving her lips. He strained his ears to hear it over the thundering pulses of his heart.

_I’ll always love you._

He almost couldn’t believe it, it seemed so unreal. Her barely whispered words, the small smile on her face just for him, the dulling of her eyes as they closed, her hand no longer tensed in his. He nearly jumped toward her, finally uttering more words than he had in a very long time.

“Maka? Maka. Maka!” His breath was harsh against his lungs as he sat on the edge of her bed, shaking and moving his trembling hands to brush her face and check her. No. He wasn’t ready for this, just a little longer, please! But no amount of pleading could stir her. His clawed fingers around her shoulders pulled her to him as her last words echoed in his head over and over.   _Thank you, for always being here…I’ll always love you._

“I’ll always be here Maka, I’ll always love you.” Murmuring his reply into her ear as he cried all the tears he hadn’t allowed himself to show her since the day he heard Stein say the words that started it all. He should have said those words back then, he should have said them every day; but she had said them first and didn’t even give him the chance to say them back. But he would, and did as he stood in front of the carved letters of her name every day.

“I’ll always be here Maka, I’ll always love you.”


End file.
